Up Up and Away 1st day - Saturday

---

Prologue: We just returned from a two week Spring Break vacation in Italy. We went to visit friends, relax, and basically just gad about and have fun. We stayed a week in Brindisi and then another in the Cilento region. Our good friends Sam & Terri accompanied us and were fun travel companions.
Prior to the trip I decided to try a different approach to the commentary and took a little finger puppet whom I christened Al to use as a social icebreaker and a 3rd person commenter. I composed these posts in a diary format and tried to catch the highlights of the vacation rather than give a detailed blow-by-blow account.

Up Up and Away 1st day - Saturday
Our pre-departure routine has become honed to a state of maximum efficiency. The night before our departure our bags were already packed, we gave the place a thorough cleaning, cleared out the fridge, and emptied the laundry hamper. And we got to bed by 9PM!!
The only minor hitch was when our ride to the airport had to be roused out of bed...nothing like ringing people's doorbell at 5:30AM!
The first leg of the schedule went smoothly. No notable events during the check-in and takeoff. We landed in Chicago a few minutes early due to an excellent tailwind. We had the perfect layover...which in my mind consists of at least two hours to get in some walking to keep the circulation functioning for all part of the body, most especially the digestive system. A regular system is not something that should be underappreciated!
This length of layover time is important because it is also time to get in a lunch and stock up on supplies. This is important because it is hard to get good (healthy) snacks once the flight is underway and if you happened to have prepared a tasty snack bag but it is sitting in the fridge...at home, hmmmm…well. Yeah, I gacked that one!
The second leg from Chicago to Philly went well. Fortunately we had landed in the adjacent concourse to international departures when we arrived in Philly. The departure to Rome was also sans drama - just the way I like it.
Some of my observations at this point are that clearly there are some really clueless people on this planet. Note to my fellow air passengers: When boarding or deplaning be alert and ready to either stow or retrieve your bag. Your fellow passengers will really appreciate it...really.
My second observation is that without fail there will be a crying screaming child on the transatlantic leg. It seemed to me that the crying really revved up when it came time to get some shuteye. A comfortable neck pillow, ear plugs, eye mask, and my trusty friend, Ambien, reduced the inconvenience to a slightly tolerable level.
My third observation is that airline food has always been bad, but it seems to have gotten worse. Is this true? Or, am I really just becoming crankier by the day?
Note: All my sisters nodding their heads in unison is biased voting and not to be taken into account.

---

Photos

Vacation Money
Al doesn’t think you need to win the lottery to afford a European vacation. Al knows the odds but
lightning needs to strike only once!

Vacation with friends!
Al maintains a short list of friends he considers “fun travel companions.” Somehow the old crank in the middle made the list.

Al, hanging out with Sam & Terri
waiting for the next leg of the flight

Al’s rules for flying:
buy economy but sit just behind business class, aisle seat, no more than 2 short layovers, fly directly from US to your destination, note the seat numbers